Creative WebCam Notebook PD1170 max non software interpolated mode?

Question

MODEL:
PD70
PRODUCT NAME:
Creative WebCam Notebook
PRODUCT HOMEPAGE:
http://www.creative.com/products/pro...53&product=629
I brought it at the days of 2004 when the mic was yet not included in the package case.
QUESTION:
What is the physical hardware capability for image resolution (not software interpolated) of the PD1170 web camera to capture still images?
FEATURES
http://www.creative.com/products/pro...duct=629&nav=0
capture sharp and highly-detailed video and snapshots at up to 640 x 480 resolution.
640x480 (VGA) image sensor
Featuring an advanced image sensor at 640 x 480 resolution, get true color reproduction and detailed videos every time you use it.
SPECIFICATIONS
http://www.creative.com/products/pro...oduct=629&nav=
Highest Still Image Resolution: 640 X 480
Highest Video Resolution: 640 X 480
I suspect this "Highest Still Image Resolution 640x480" is "software interpolated" because the FEATURES-page uses the wording "at UP TO to 640 x 480 resolution" and by other Creative web-cameras the pictures with biggest dimensions are usually taken with software interpolation mode enabled.
Creatives marketing seems to have taken care that different web cameras seem to be incomparable as the product webpages dont offer consistent information.
I have limited storage space on hard disk and I want to run "Capture at regular intervals" session over a longer period of time, pointed at construction site.
If I would know the maximum resolution mode, which is not software interpolated, then I could optimize my disk usage by taking the still image shots at the maximum physical resolution the camera actually can handle and get the best quality out of it at the minimal cost of hard disk capacity consumption.
And then afterwards if I need pictures which would look bigger, then interpolate the taken shots manually by myself with IrfanView or Photoshop or with whatever program that can resize image.
I assume, that running webcam with the software interpolation enabled is basically equal to what I can achieve afterwards with Photoshop or Irfanview if I make the picture dimensions bigger in previously mentioned software programs.
Currently I have taken still image shots at regular intervals in 640*480 mode outside my window.
The picture quality is poor, yet 640*480 images in BMP format consume huge amount of disk space (900KB each).
I have already some tens of gigabytes saved onto HDD... ;D
As the image quality is already poor as it is, I dont want to use JPG format, because JPG is lossy format and therefore it would make a poor image look even more poor.
Because of the 640*480 image quality looks poor, I assume that the image quality in 640*480 by "PD1170 Creative WebCam Notebook" is alreay software interpolated and therefore it would make much more sense to make still image shots at some lower resolution such as 352x288.
Am I correct?
Therefore I need to know the maximum non interpolated mode. So..
What is the physical hardware capability (not software interpolated) of the PD70 web camera to capture still images?

Answer 1

the Device Manager error message reads:
Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)
Click Troubleshoot to start the troubleshooter for this device.
Also, i followed the instructions to do a clean boot, and installed it that way (after uninstalling it first, obviously) and it still gave me an error message in the bottom corner saying there was an error installing the hardware. To clarify this, after the wizard directs me to connect the Webcam, it automatically closes, and the error message i see, i believe, is from Windows.
To make sure i'm doing this correctly, and know what i'm talking about, i want to lay out what i've been doing. I downloaded the driver from the Creative website. I made sure that i had no existing drivers or anything on my system for this equipment. I then simply "run" the driver installation, and follow the directions until it directs me to insert the camera, at which time the wizard closes, and i get the error message.